PDA

View Full Version : BT Vision.. Q&A's



nss1888
06-06-2008, 12:42 PM
Hey folks,

just got a hold of my nice new shiny BT Vision box..

Now, for those of you not in the know.. this a PVR freview box which also hooks up to your Bradband connection to allow On Demand content to be shown..

It's quite a funky idea as I live in the sticks so have no access to the glories of cable providers..

So, Questions time.....

Has any one else got on of these??

Have you "investigated" the systems behind the box and the On Demand access..

It has a 60Gig HDD in it, but I'm reasonably sure you'll be able to throw a 250Gig in there and reformat it, but has anyone done this??

cheers

:)

little_pob
06-06-2008, 02:20 PM
I've got one... well, the rents have one ;)

The OS is Windows CE running a BT branded version of Microsoft MedaiRoom.

You need a 'BT Vison enabled' BB line to use the EPG as it pulls down from the BT servers. It also needs the connection to schedule a recording and to delete the recording, but doesn't need to be plugged into the home hub/router during the recording. According to the BTV support forums both of this requirement is unlikely to appear on v2 - which is expected 2009 (as is HD freeview, but this may be a coincidence) - and they are looking to see if it can be implemented as a firmware upgrade to v1.

Upgrading the HDD is possible, but will obviously void your warranty. The firmware on the EPROM detects the blank hard drive and iniciates a format and downloads the OS and "BT Vision client" (i.e. MediaRoom) from BT. Worth pointing out, unless you are able to delete the MBR you're better off using a brand new disk.

Someone on another forum has managed to jtag the box and dump the bootloader. Hes also created a modchip to allow the box to run unsigned code but is having a little trouble recompling the C# due to missing assemblies. The intension of this is to allow the vison box to be used as a freeview PVR with the standard freeview EPG without the need to connect to BT line. This won't get you the VoD for free as BT will only send you what you're account is subscribed to.

nss1888
06-06-2008, 02:29 PM
Cheers for that littleun...

Think I'll invest in a nice new 250gig HDD. there is fitba coming on the telly soon, dinnae wanna miss any of that :)

As for the PVR only working from the BT scheduler, hmm, that's somthing that would be handy to change ;)

Will do a little more investigating

Ta
:)